


What the Heart Hears

by River9Noble



Category: Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Adoption, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - No Powers, F/M, Grief/Mourning, Hurt/Comfort, JaySteph - Freeform, Romance, STAY Server Exchange, The baby's parents die at beginning but no one else dies, Tumblr: Jason Todd Rare Pair Challenge, Tumblr: fyeahjaysteph
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-20
Updated: 2020-08-20
Packaged: 2021-03-06 23:02:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,288
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26006920
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/River9Noble/pseuds/River9Noble
Summary: Written for the JaySteph Discord 2020 Birthday Exchange.Prompt: Steph puts her baby up for adoption. Something happens to her baby’s parents and they leave their daughter's care to their nephew Jason. He knows Steph through school and can't believe how much the toddler looks like her. Hijinks and love ensue.No Capes/College AU
Relationships: Stephanie Brown/Jason Todd
Comments: 14
Kudos: 69
Collections: Focus on Female Characters, Jason Todd Rare Pair Challenge





	What the Heart Hears

**Author's Note:**

  * For [BunnyJess](https://archiveofourown.org/users/BunnyJess/gifts).



> I wrote this for BunnyJess and her great prompt, which freakin' broke me. TEARS running down my cheeks, you guys. TEARS. So it ended up a little light on the hijinks, I guess. Hope you like it anyway, BunnyJess! 
> 
> This is a No Capes/College AU.
> 
> Batman still exists if you want him to, though. In my headcanon, he does, because I think it makes the story funnier. But Jason and Stephanie never become part of the family or heroes.

"Jason, hi? What's up?" Stephanie Brown, junior at Gotham University, picked up the call from her wannabe-BFF/crush/chemistry study partner Jason Todd with a sense of alarm.

Because who made phone calls these days, really?

"Steph, thank God," Jason's voice sounded frantic.

Shit. She knew it.

"Can you meet me at the hospital?"

He sounded like he was both hyper-ventilating and crying and that was such a contrast from the snarky, confident, always cool Jason Todd who Steph spent way too many hours in class daydreaming about that her heart seized with fear.

"I'm on my way," she said to him immediately.

"Are you ok? What happened?" Steph asked worriedly as she quickly found her wallet and keys and shoved her feet into her somewhat-dry snow boots.

"A car accident," Jason mumbled in shock. "My aunt and her wife - it was icy - they're dead, Steph," he said haltingly as his voice broke.

"Oh, my God," Steph breathed out in horror.

"Jason, I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry," she said, tears filling her eyes as she grabbed her winter parka, not bothering to put it on as she ran out the door and got into her car.

"What about your niece?" Steph asked, turning the heater on full blast, praying for the windows to hurry up and defrost.

Steph knew that Jason's aunt was the very much younger half-sister of his mom (who'd passed away years ago from cancer), and Jason was the beloved 'favorite uncle' of his aunts' young daughter. He had mentioned Christmas shopping for his niece during one of their recent study sessions and Steph knew that Jason had spent Thanksgiving with their family, not mentioning any other relatives, which made Steph wonder if they were the only family he had.

Losing them was going to rip Jason apart.

"Emily's here in the hospital," Jason sniffed. "They're checking her out but they think she's gonna be ok, her car seat protected her. It was a head-on collision, that's why Kate and Bianca got killed," he said, his voice wobbling.

"Fuck," Steph whispered.

"Yeah," Jason choked out.

"Be really careful driving, Steph, ok?" he suddenly begged her. "Maybe you should just stay home, shit, I didn't think -"

"It's ok," Steph said reassuringly. "I live really close to the hospital and I'll be there soon, ok?"

"Ok," he mumbled. "Thank you," he said softly.

"Of course," Steph said, feeling the cold tears on her cheeks as she hung up and put the car into drive.

Something was nagging at the corner of her mind, but it refused to come to the forefront and Steph didn't have time to worry about it, anyway, with Jason's world turned upside down. Not to mention his niece's - Steph's heart was breaking, too, for the little girl who had suddenly lost both parents, and right before Christmas.

She was extra careful driving the ten minutes to Gotham General through the slush and lightly falling snow and breathed a sigh of relief when she was finally parked in the underground garage.

Not that underground parking garages in Gotham were very safe, but at least she wasn't on the road anymore and could make her way to Jason in the ER. She gripped her pepper spray tightly in one hand and her switchblade in the other as she ran full-tilt for the stairs, not feeling safe until she was barging through the doors of the ER.

"Hey," Steph said gently when she was finally pulling the curtain back of the tiny partitioned off room where an even tinier girl was sobbing in Jason's lap and screaming for Mommy and Mama as Jason snuggled her tight and cried into her blonde hair.

"Steph," Jason said, the relief and gratitude in his voice evident.

"You came," he said, and even though he was crying, the look in his eyes of utter affection and neediness and want for Steph hit her right in the feels and she almost lost her breath.

She'd never seen Jason look at her that way before. And she was in the habit of sneaking peeks at him quite often.

Was that why he had called _her_? He had other friends, Steph was sure. They'd only met at the beginning of the semester in the back row of chemistry class, snarking their way under their breath through their mutually least favorite subject each and every lecture and teaming up to study hard enough to survive the exams.

"Of course I came," Steph said gently, dumping her purse and coat on the nasty plastic chair and seating herself on the bed behind Jason so she could wrap him in a hug.

And sure, they'd hugged before, although it had taken them a while to get started with the physical contact, kind of dancing around the issue the first few study sessions every time they parted ways until Jason had finally flipped Steph's heart upside down in early October by squeezing his arm sideways around her shoulders right before they left the library.

They had slowly worked their way up from there to full-on body hugs - quick and very, very casual at first - _so_ casual, right, nothing to see here, no feelings brewing, nope, that kind of casual - but by Thanksgiving the hug that they had given each other before leaving for break was warm and tight and lasted more than a few seconds.

But this hug? Steph felt herself melting into Jason, trying her best to wrap him up in a blanket of comfort and caring and lo- _friendship -_ as she cradled him in her arms, resting her chin on his shoulder and pressing her cheek into the wet side of his face.

Jason began sobbing, too, and Steph's heart began to wail at the realization that he was too shattered to even attempt to hold it together for little Emily.

But maybe that was better. Emily deserved to see that her tears were ok and that her uncle Jason loved her moms just as much as she did and was just as traumatized by their unexpectedly cruel passing.

Steph found herself crying too, as she rocked Jason in her arms, completely unable to offer any words of comfort, because what was there to say? But Jason took one of her hands and laid it under his, squeezing it tight, and he turned his head to press a desperate kiss to her cheek before resting his head gently against hers.

By the time the doctor finally came in with the x-ray results, Jason had managed to quiet down to sniffs and Emily was whimpering into his chest, her little fingers tightly twisted into his hoodie. Jason was still clutching Steph's hand, and she was gripping his back just as tight.

"Can we leave now?" Jason rasped out to the doctor after getting the good news that Emily hadn't sustained any serious injuries.

The doctor sighed.

"I'm sorry, but no," she said. "You'll have to speak with the social worker on call first, due to -"

She glanced at Emily and Jason gritted his teeth but nodded.

"When will they get here?" Steph asked her.

"We left him a message, but…" the doctor trailed off apologetically. "There's no telling when he'll show up, I'm afraid," she said. "Budget cuts, you know? He's on call for multiple locations today."

"Great," Jason said sarcastically, looking down at his sniffling niece.

"Unfortunately, any case that requires an immediate pull takes priority over yours," the doctor said softly, her brown eyes filled with sympathy.

"I get it," Jason muttered wearily.

The doctor gave him another sad smile before leaving the curtained cubicle.

"Uncle Jason," a little voice said into his shirt.

"Yeah, Em?" he asked her, reaching his free hand up to stroke her blonde curls back from her forehead.

"I gotta go potty," she said.

"Oh," Jason said, suddenly looking lost.

He lifted his cheek from Steph's and turned to look at her.

"Could you take her, maybe?" he said hesitantly. "I don't know - God, what do I -" panic was starting to fill his eyes as he realized just how little he knew about parenting - especially parenting girls - and Steph quickly squeezed his fingers and stood up.

"I got this," she said.

"Come on, munchkin," she said, reaching her hand out to the tiny blonde who had to be about five or six, Steph guessed, although she kind of sucked at estimating kids' ages.

"Are you uncle Jason's girlfriend?" the tiny tot asked.

"Oh," Steph said as her and Jason's eyes darted to each other and they simultaneously blushed. "I'm his friend. Stephanie."

"My good friend," Jason piped up. "My best friend," he added very seriously to his niece as Steph's smile grew and flowers bloomed in her weeping heart.

"Ok," Emily said distractedly, not really interested in anything but her own heartbreak at the moment now that her curiosity had been satisfied.

Jason lifted her off the hospital bed to the floor and Emily obediently held her hand up for Steph's, who took it with an odd lump in her throat before walking the little girl out of the room.

Jason sighed as they left, but he had to smile to himself because his cheeks were still warm and Steph had blushed, too, and smiled at him and she had showed up for him and cuddled him and - fuck, he was gonna be saddled with a kid now, wasn't he?

Oh, holy shit.

Not that he minded taking Emily in - he'd agreed to be her legal guardian as soon as he'd turned twenty-one, which had made Kate and Bianca ecstatic since Jason had been their first choice for Emily's guardian all along.

They'd had to go with Kate's cousin as guardian back when they'd first adopted Emily, though, since Jason had only been a teenager at the time, but they had wanted to switch guardianship to Jason as soon as they were able to because Kate's cousin was freakin' Bruce Wayne.

THE Bruce Wayne, billionaire son of Gotham.

And from what Kate said, he was a great guy, and God knows he loved kids, based on how many of his own he'd either had or adopted, but he was a lot older than Kate and his kids were older, too.

So while Bruce had been more than willing to be Emily's guardian until Jason grew up, or even permanently, if needed, Kate and Bianca hadn't wanted to burden him with the possibility of a second round of parenting once his own kids were teenagers or beyond. Plus, they had secretly confided to Jason that they wanted Emily to have a more normal life instead of becoming part of the paparazzi fodder that were the Waynes of Gotham.

And Jason loved his niece to pieces, but the problem was he'd kind of been falling in love with Steph this semester, too, and how was she gonna feel about dating a suddenly single-dad? Crap.

Nothing he could do about it, though, except hope she wouldn't be put off by little Em, because no way was Jason gonna refuse to take his niece in and let that old fart Bruce Wayne raise her.

Emmy deserved better than a graying billionaire who was probably counting the days until his nest was once again empty. His youngest was in high school, Jason thought he remembered Kate saying at Thanksgiving.

Besides, Jason and Bianca were from the Narrows, and he'd be damned if he farmed out one of their own. Bruce Wayne would turn his niece into a prissy, princessy socialite who got her hair and nails done once a week, who would never want to ride uncle Jason's motorcycle or get her own bike one day or go to Roller Derby matches when she got older or drink beer when she grew up.

Yeah, he was gonna raise his niece right. Starting with the roller skates, which he and Kate and Bianca had already gotten her for Christmas and hid at Jason's apartment, along with the teeny-tiny pads and helmet.

Fuck, he had to get through Christmas with her in a few weeks, didn't he? Right after her parents had died. Oh, that was gonna be hell. And double fuck, Hanukkah, Jason suddenly remembered. Kate was Jewish and they were raising Emily as interfaith. When did Hanukkah even start this year?

Oh, God, Jason thought numbly as he pulled his phone out and began to google dates.

He glanced up when Steph and Emily pulled the curtain aside and walked back in, and his mouth fell open.

Because Jason had never noticed it before, never having had the opportunity to see the two of them side by side, but holy hell did Emily look like Steph. And not just because they both had blonde, curly hair.

It was their faces, too. Emily was like Steph's mini-me.

"What?" Steph asked him curiously as he stared, open-mouthed.

"Nothing," Jason said quickly, swallowing.

He didn't want to be weird. Maybe he was imagining it because he wanted to date Steph. So he was doing some weird psychology trick of seeing her as Emily's new mom, or something.

"You can tell me," Steph insisted, boosting Emily back up to the bed.

Jason didn't answer but scooted over to make room for Steph beside him, and her face lit up with a smile as he patted the mattress to invite her closer. She swung her legs up onto the bed and started to lean into Jason's side, but was promptly snuggled even closer than she'd hoped by the arm he slung around her shoulders.

"Uncle Jason?" Emily said again in a small voice as she crawled back into his lap.

"Yeah, sweetie?" he asked her as he hugged her with his other arm.

"Who am I gonna live with now?" she said quietly.

"Me," Jason said, causing both Steph and Emily to look at him.

"Really?" Emily said, the tiniest flicker of hope flaring in her despondent eyes.

"Yep," Jason said, leaning down to press a kiss to her forehead. "Your moms made me your guardian in case anything ever - well -"

"In case they died and went to heaven," Steph said gently. "Because they loved you very much and knew that your uncle Jason would take better care of you than anyone else in the whole wide world except them," Steph said, blinking away some tears that didn't have anything to do with Emily and Jason's loss.

"So I have to come live in your apartment?" Emily frowned at Jason. "Where am I gonna sleep? Where's my bed gonna go?"

"Oh, ummm," Jason said, slowly thinking, "I guess I'll come live with you in your house," he said.

"Are you gonna be able to afford all this?" Steph whispered to him in concern, but he nodded.

"Yeah, Kate and Bi both had hefty life insurance policies and I was the beneficiary in case they had to leave me with Em."

"Oh, good," Steph breathed out in relief.

"Plus, Uncle Bruce is very rich," Emily said, having of course overheard.

"Bruce Wayne?" Steph said, raising an eyebrow in shock.

Emily nodded her head.

"He's Mama's cousin," she said. "He gives me really nice birthday presents every year," she said.

"I bet," Jason snorted before noticing that Steph had frozen with her eyes wide open.

"Steph?" he asked, brushing her shoulder with his fingertips. "You ok?"

"What did you say your aunts' names were?" she asked him in a funny voice.

"Kate and Bianca," Jason said, giving her a puzzled look. "Kate and Bianca Kane."

A whimper escaped Steph's throat, but Jason couldn't tell if it was sorrow or fear or something else.

And Steph was crying.

Shit, not just crying.

She was sobbing now, and reaching out a hand to gently touch Emily's head like she couldn't believe the girl was real.

"Are you sad about my mommies, too?" Emily asked her in confusion, wrinkling her little brow up.

Steph gasped and tried to stop crying, but she couldn't and turned and buried her head in Jason's shoulder, letting him tug her in closer as she sobbed hysterically.

"Steph," Jason said in concern. "Honey," he said, starting to get really worried before it hit him like a brick to the head.

He guessed he didn't have to worry about Steph not wanting to date him because of Emily, after all.

And when the social worker had come and gone and they'd had to take the bus home because they realized that they didn't have a carseat for Steph's car and when they'd made macaroni and cheese from a box with hot dogs cut up in it and then tucked Emily into her bed with her entire menagerie of stuffed animals crammed into every spare nook and cranny and when the little girl started to cry again and sniffed out, "My mommies are gone," it was Steph who found the words.

"They're gone because you can't see them anymore," she said, "but you can still talk to them anytime you want and they'll hear you. And if you sit really still, you'll feel little kisses in your heart and know they still love you."

"That's what my other mommy said," Emily said in surprise. "In her letter to me. That I could talk to her anytime I wanted and if I sat very still, I'd feel her little kisses in my heart and know she still loves me. And I do feel them," Emily said pensively, reaching up to drum little fingers on her chest.

"The mommy whose tummy you grew in?" Jason said quietly, reaching out to rub Steph's back as she turned and met his knowing eyes with tears in hers.

"Yes," Emily said. "Mommy and Mama would read me her letter, it's in my box, Uncle Jason," she said, pointing to an elaborately hand-glittered purple shoebox on her night table.

Jason reached the lid off and took the letter out, handing it to Emily, not missing Steph's fond, reminiscent smile as she wiped the tears from her eyes.

"How did you know what my other mommy said?" Emily asked Steph. "Did you read my letter?"

"I wrote your letter, baby," Steph said, her voice cracking with emotion. "I'm your other mommy."

Emily's mouth dropped open.

"You heard me," she said in wonder.

"Always," Steph choked out, starting to cry right along with her daughter.

"What did you tell her?" Jason asked Emily curiously as she crawled forward into Steph's arms and held on tight.

Emily turned her head to look at her uncle.

"I told her that my mommies were dead and I needed her to come back. And she heard me and she came," Emily said as the tears slipped down her cheeks and Steph sobbed in disbelief and Jason's throat got tight with emotion.

Sometime later, when the trio had finally managed to stop crying, Emily looked up at Steph.

"You're gonna marry Uncle Jason, right?" she asked her. "Because he's my daddy, now, and you're my mommy?"

Steph's mouth fell open but nothing came out. Jason's chuckle drew her gaze up to his warm eyes.

"We'll see. Maybe down the road," Jason said gently to his niece, although he was still looking at Steph. "I think we'd like to start with dating first…?"

"Yes," Steph smiled, making his heart turn somersaults despite the shit-awful circumstances of losing his aunts today.

"We'll start with dating," Steph smiled at Emily, snuggling tighter with their daughter into Jason's arms as her heart sang louder than a mob of angry car horns in a Gotham traffic jam.

"But I think the future looks hopeful," Steph whispered up to Jason.

"Me, too," he said into their kiss.

_The End_

**Author's Note:**

> BunnyJess!!!!! I hope you liked it! 
> 
> Fanfiction writers are thirsty vampires and comments are our lifeblood. 🧛🩸😁  
> (But if you are mean, we will cut a bitch. Cuz we are vampires rawr 🦇)
> 
> If you love JaySteph, come check out @fyeahjaysteph on Tumblr and join the JaySteph Discord (links on the blog).
> 
> You can follow me on Tumblr as River9Noble. Come say hi!


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